Ceiling fans are very common household and commercial appliances. Conventional ceiling fan housings are difficult to install due to the installer having to perform a number of difficult manoeuvres. Installing a conventional ceiling fan housing usually requires the installer standing on a stool or scaffold trying to work overhead with aligning the holes on both the anchoring bracket and the housing and inserting screws into the holes and try to tighten the screws with screw drivers all at the same time. The relatively heavy motor housing and rotor components of the hugger mounted fans add to the installation difficulty. Moreover, the limited space for turning the screws below the ceiling makes the screw tightening extremely arduous. Such traditional ceiling fan housing installation method is evidently unsatisfactory. It requires the installer great dexterity, patience, efforts and time in order to securely install the motor housing to the anchoring bracket.
It is therefore highly desirable to eliminate the need to screw the ceiling fan housing to the anchoring bracket so that a user only needs to simply push and snap the housing and secure the housing to the bracket for ready use.
Attempts have been made to achieve this objective in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,099 (issued to Liao on Mar. 13, 2001) discloses a mounting mechanism without the need to use screws. It provides a frame for anchoring to the ceiling. Two pairs of base plates are used to secure the frame to the corresponding lugs on the upper circumference of the motor housing through a gap and slots and a resilient member. Even the Liao method avoids resorting to utilizing screws, it appears to be equally complicated in the assembly process, especially given the limited working space below the ceiling. U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,061 (issued to Hsu on Jan. 9, 2001) teaches a suspending bracket for receiving a ceiling fan housing without the need of screws. The Hsu system is somewhat simpler than the Liao system. It provides two diagonally opposed spring-biased steel balls partially embedded half way inside the blind holes of an anchoring frame. There are two corresponding holes located on the inwardly extending lugs positioned along the top rim of the fan housing. During installation, a user presses the housing against the anchoring frame and rotates the housing until the holes on the lugs engaged with the two steel balls, thereby locking the housing in position. However, the constant vibration of the motor housing will cause the ball-and-hole locking mechanism to degenerate and deteriorate over time and pose the hazardous danger of disengaging the fan housing from the anchor frame. Accordingly, it is beneficial to develop a mechanism which eliminates the need to use screws to fasten the fan housing to the anchoring bracket and, at the same time, promotes ease of installation and ensure permanent locking security.
It is also advantageous to be able to disengage the housing from the anchor bracket with simple manoeuvres and without having the need to resort to special tools.